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5 Answers
5

It depends, I'm from Argentina and we don't use that expression, though it's correct. Personally I would go for a more universal translation such as "El primo de mi mujer estuvo en McAlester y lo trataron muy mal". I'm not sure about the context of the sentence, but the difference between what I wrote and the translation you found is that mine conveys the sense that this person had a terrible time because of the people there. The translation you found says that he had a terrible time, doesn't say why.
Hope this helps!
Edit: Forgot to say that "lo pasó fatal" translates to "he had a terrible time".

First, I have no idea what "The cat croaked" means haha[I have my theories]. Second, "fatal" in spanish it is not only related to death, here "lo pasó fatal" just means that "he spent that time in a very terrible way". It's a good translation, it seems to me that it's from Spain. I agree with Eleyson that "El primo de mi mujer estuvo en McAlester y lo trataron muy mal" it's more accurate because specify "who gave him hell" and the other one don't but both sound good.

I agree with Jaime as the translation would be a much closer reference to "El primo de mi mujer estuvo en McAlester y lo trataron muy mal" and I'd also say that the use of the word "fatal" may not always be linked to death, it can be linked to bad luck, misfortune or any general shock that may occur. The statement in question "Lo paso fatal" would be best linked to a person "El primo de mi mujer" have a tough/bad/"fatal" spending of time in that place which may further be linked to a death but not in direct reference therefore you can never be too sure through the way in which the text is written.

"They gave him hell" could mean that the treatment he got from the people there was cruel or harsh and far from respectful. I agree that it's important to get those clueless people into the translation, but also to do it with a colloquialism, preferably something a bit of a rough edge. "Lo trataron retemal" or "Se le amontaron líos" might approach that.